A consortium of arbuscular mycorrizal fungi improves nutrient uptake, biochemical response, nodulation and growth of the pea (Pisum sativum L.) under salt stress

The present study was conducted to examine the accumulation of nutrients, antioxidant enzymes activity, growth and yield of pea influenced by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) under salt stress. This study included four treatments i.e. single species AMF (Rhizophagus intraradices), formulated AMF (Funneliformis mosseae and Rhizophagus intraradices), and multi species AMF (Rhizophagus fasciculatus and Gigaspora sp.) along with control (non-mycorrhizal). The AMF inoculation found to be effective in reducing the negative effects of salt stress by improving the antioxidant enzyme system, greater ionic balance, and by regulating the malondialdehyde and phenolic compounds, which resulted in higher growth and yield of pea. Seed yield increased by similar to 24, 40 and 54% in Rhizophagus intraradices, Funneliformis mosseae + Rhizophagus intraradices and Rhizophagus fasciculatus + Gigaspora sp. respectively in comparison to control treatments. Overall, consortium based application of AMF belonging to different family i.e. multi species (Rhizophagus fasciculatus and Gigaspora sp.) was found superior than single AMF inoculation to improve the pea production under salt stress environment.